Housing forums in Dennis look at costs, opportunities

By Susan Vaughn

Thursday

Nov 29, 2018 at 9:23 AMNov 29, 2018 at 9:25 AM

A steady increase in seasonal homes and home prices in Dennis and elsewhere on Cape Cod are making it more difficult for year-round residents to find homes at affordable prices, a trend that will continue, according to a 2017 Housing Market Analysis prepared for the Cape Cod Commission. Low wages, fewer good paying jobs, types of housing, and an aging population are other factors affecting the housing market and the Cape’s tourism economic future.

“Cape Cod supports over 50 percent of all seasonal housing in Massachusetts,” Heather Harper, the Cape Cod Commission’s chief of staff, said in presenting a data-packed report on the state of housing across the Cape and in Dennis at a forum Nov. 15 at the Dennis Senior Center. The forum was the first in a planned series sponsored by the Dennis Board of Selectmen in partnership with the Dennis Municipal Affordable Housing Trust.

The trends show that seasonal homes account for 38 percent of all Cape homes and 54 percent in Dennis compared with 4 percent statewide and nationwide. The report compared the Cape Cod region to similar counties with strong seasonal economies across the country.

Harper cited a “dramatic shift” in seasonal housing after the 2008 recession with data from 2010-2015 showing Cape Cod had a net loss of 3,000 year-round homes and a gain of 5,000. During that time, Dennis lost 789 year-round housing units and had a 999 increase in seasonal homes.

Cape Cod has the smallest number of housing units per square mile at 149, a much higher seasonal economy and a much higher age share at 51.7 percent, compared with the other counties in the study, Harper said. Other striking factors include the large portion of single-family homes, 88 percent in Dennis, compared with 80 percent Cape wide, 63 percent nationwide and 52 percent statewide.

In 2017, the Cape added 441 single-family homes and only three multi-family housing units, according to the report. Renter occupied units accounted for 21 percent Cape wide, 20 percent in Dennis and 36 percent statewide. Dennis also has the smallest number of occupants per household at 2.05 with the Cape average at 2.24, and both the state and U.S. averages above 2.5 percent.

Harper spoke of “cost burdened” households, with 26,000 on the Cape spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. The subsidized housing inventory also is low with Dennis now even with Mashpee at 5.2 percent but ahead of Yarmouth and several other towns.

Income levels affect ability to afford a home, which the report called “housing stress.” Harper showed a chart comparing median household income of 50 to 120 percent in 2015 to a forecast for 2025. While a median priced home of $300,000 was within reach of 80 percent of the median income households in 2015, the affordability gap increases by 2025 a median house price in Dennis will be $492,594 while an affordable house would be $246,851.

Harper also showed how incomes based on types of jobs are affecting the Cape’s population and the economy. “There has been some job growth since 2012,” she said, “but wages are not keeping up.”

The data showed how many people per household are needed to purchase a home at $335,000 on the Cape with an $80,000 annual income. Construction jobs required the lowest number at 1.4 persons per household compared with 3.3 per household needed for jobs in accommodations and food service.

Selectmen Chairman Paul McCormick, a restaurant owner, emphasized that factor from the tourism side. He said more students are not going into the hospitality or food service jobs because of low wages that make it unaffordable to live on the Cape, so more are going off Cape into medical fields because of higher pay.

“The hospitality industry is slowly going down on the Cape,” and non-discount retail stores are also disappearing because of the cost of living, McCormick said.

Harper emphasized how the housing issues are affecting the tourism industry also.

Bob Samoluk, chairman of the Dennis Housing Trust, also expressed his concern about the increasing housing affordability gap. He said more rentals should be a priority as well as taking care of lower income people.

Dr. Frank Dahlstrom of Dennis asked about the possibility of changing deed restrictions that would allow conversion of vacant businesses to residential units. Harper said the commission has been working on such reset programs in Eastham, Falmouth and Orleans and soon, Hyannis. The program focuses on “form rather than what’s behind” a building façade and allowing 20 units per acre, she said.

Harper noted that social norms among generations are shifting, with 56 percent of millennials and 46 percent of baby boomers preferring more walkable, mixed use neighborhoods. “We’re not addressing that need,” she said.

Development over the last 50 years has led to the current housing and land use situation, Harper said. Even in increasing flood hazard zones, she said, “we are likely to see development.”

Saying there is “no one solution,” she listed several local and regional efforts to address the issues, including local comprehensive plans, a regional economic strategy team, districts of critical planning concern and growth incentive zones. The commission’s economic team provides technical assistance to individual towns, the districts allow temporary moratorium on certain types of development and a growth zone streamlines the permitting process.

The entire housing report can be found online at Cape Cod Commission.org/housing study or on the Dennis town website (www.town.dennis.ma.us) under news and announcements.

The next session will be Thursday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. at the Dennis Senior Center with a presentation on the state’s affordable housing statute, Chapter 40B.